Jaakko Husa

It's December which means that our daughter has officially opened the gingerbread season.

Murdering small potatoes (who may be innocent) out in the sea but pardoning big player like Hernández makes no sense at all. Cheeto Satan's presidency falls deeper into the black hole every day. And this is just the first year.

Very decent practice that too!

The importance of staring out the window with your dog should not be belittled. It is soul cleansing activity.

New issue of the Journal of Comparative Law (20:2) contains autobiographical essays of comparatists ("comparative lawyers"), including yours truly. Below you can see my essay's last page with some thoughts on the field and its future.

Meme with to panels. Top panel describes civilised discussion under the heading ‘Comparatists discuss the importance of their discipline’. Bottom panel under the heading ‘Comparatists discuss the method of comparative law’ shows utter chaos and aggression.

Sharing one of my, hopefully, entertaining comparative law memes on this platform.

"Codified Constitution is not a description of reality."

— Antero Jyränki
(my past friend and mentor)

Famous scene from the movie Goodfellas but this time the gangster played by Joe Pesci asks "How is comparative law funny?"

Yours truly at a conference dinner.

a man in a carrera uniform holds a bowl of popcorn in his right hand Alt: Kimi Räikkönen eating popcorn

Former F1 driver Kimi Räikkönen would know what to say to the Reviewer 2:

“Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing”

Seems like a "fine" specimen indeed. 🙄

‘America is British’. Heaven is ‘a socialist state’. David Attenborough is ‘anti-human’ – the startling theories of Reform MP Danny Kruger He was a Conservative party big-hitter who wrote speeches for David Cameron and worked with Boris Johnson before he suddenly jumped ship. He talks family, flags and why Nigel Farage is ‘top dog’

Just saying that Sir David is pro-life, not anti-human.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Contrarian Jurists This book presents a unique study of the field of comparative law examining the key differences between schools and approaches and examining their contradiction…

Hart Publishing has now added a description of my book on their website.
www.bloomsbury.com/au/contraria...

We can learn thinking patterns from the US government. Here goes:

The claim "reptilian aliens have not replaced important people" is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that reptilian aliens have replaced important people.

F*cking brilliant, eh?

I started in June 1992 😬

I am not busy at all. In my ivory tower I just stay aloof, haughty, and unaware of ordinary problems of real people. So, I discuss abstract things with my learned colleagues, sip wine all day, and look down on everyone without PhD. Is that not what modern academia is about?

Perhaps it's just me but I find it weird and worrying that the White House press briefings look so North Korean.

I feel seen...

A short PhD advice dialogue

PhDer: "Can you recommend a book about academia?"

Me: "Lord of the Flies."

PhDer: "Really?"

Me: "It focuses on a group of academics in a Faculty and their disastrous attempt to govern themselves."

😬

During my years in academia I have learnt so much. For instance, academia taught me how to make nasty backhanded compliments.

Boring view of an office room with clean desk in the middle and bookcases on right and left.

Behold! I organised my office.

Would you apply for a professorship in the US now?

I thought so.

Lillördag: Sweden's workers de-stress with 'Little Saturday' As the weeks drag on and individual days lose meaning, embracing a Nordic tradition may give us reason to celebrate, just because.

This is about Sweden but it works in the other Nordic countries too. share.google/onb3BQzENVlp...

Drinking day for the Nordics...

International law and women’s history: historical methods for egalitarian scholarship Published in Comparative Legal History (Ahead of Print, 2025)

William Barbey has taken a dare of writing a review of "Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law" 3rd edn, edited by Smits, Husa, Valcke and Narciso (2023). No small feat because the encyclopedia consists of 1736 double-column pages.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Wednesdays are like small Saturdays. Right?

That was the first phase, true. Reform's rise to power (if it really happens) may the the second. The second phase would mean hammering Brexit into the heads even of those who have nurtured hope.

Consider this. If Reform really is the next governing party in the UK, how might that affect the desire of foreign academics and students to come to the UK to work and study there?

You're doing just great. Pay no attention to those bitter losers.

Professor Danneman's Valedictory lecture: "How (Not) to Compare Laws"

Online now...